Story Ready For Book Form

The man I would like to introduce to you is at home in the streets where life is at stake. He works as a police chaplain in France. He works with those who fight the front-line combat for a rule-of-law-respecting state, for civic decency and for simple human dignity. There are real victims in this battle, people with names. He had met some of those who died in gunfight with terrorists, and he knows how the work at the front line between a state that respects the rule of law and barbarity robs a man of all and makes one strive for reviving, again and again, the faintest glimmers of hope.

Long ago, he worked in a Roma settlement. To express his grateful friendship, the chief of nomads gave him a horse and he had to learn to ride it by himself: nobody else was allowed to ride the horse. At that time, his profession was not that of a social worker but something completely different – he worked in marketing for a luxury travel agency. But he needed to spend time with people living ordinary lives. He began his training for the priesthood and as part of his practical training, he served as a carer and girls’ basketball team coach in the country. The girls are grandmothers now and he is their families’ friend to this day. Later on, he became close to circus performers and provided spiritual guidance to their children: he returns annually at Christmas to celebrate at least Midnight Mass, and the big top is bursting at the seams each time. If you have never seen a circus service, you have no idea how nice a celebration can be. This bond was probably the reason why he acted as Ropewalker Association General Secretary. He organized road-cycling races for the young equally enthusiastically as overnight praying marathons. He began publishing his friend’s collections of poems and organized evenings with musicians to promote the poet’s legacy. He worked as a TV producer. He got on a first-name basis with many of those he had met while working for television; later on, when it emerged that he was a priest, people asked him to christen their children or help in all sorts of difficult situations. In old times, he encouraged Christians on the other side of the Iron Curtain and he looked after priests who had their licenses revoked. He strove toward making sure that solidarity was not just an idle word. And so he was one of those who were building bridges in the split Europe.

After the Berlin Wall had fallen, he accepted Miloslav Vlk’s invitation to Prague to help professionalize Christian journalism. Apart from setting up an educational institute for Christian journalists he also established a private company that produced movies for children in international co-productions. The goal was to preserve the Czech animation tradition for future generations. Our economy was dominated by crude capitalism then. Cultural property got under attack of easy gains. Several years later, when he had completed the task assigned and achieved the goals set, he snapped his proverbial jotter with his notes shut and moved on – to where he would be more useful. He applied himself to broadcasting from remote corners of the earth belonging in the European Union as part of French overseas territories.

Noël Choux is coming to Prague. On November 7, he will be present at the projection of the animated movies for children he helped make. At the French Institute (Štěpánská 35, Prague 1) several episodes depicting the three major religions will be shown. They were created years ago in Czech-French co-production. The purpose was to make sure that the increasing impact of religion in society is not just a consequence of fanatical acts; to make sure that religion is expounded to children in a kind and pedagogically appropriate manner. The series got ahead of their times. Some schools still use them in instruction. This too will be one of the topics that will be discussed with the man who likes to keep off the beaten track and who needs to spend time with people living ordinary lives.